Bafétimbi Gomis: It’s over with Newcastle United confirms Lyon Chairman

“Howay man, stay here wor Bafétimbi” says Aulas now. Well there have certainly been some very strong hints so far, but now it has finally been confirmed by Olympique Lyonnais chairman, Jean-Michel Aulas that there are currently no parties currently in discussions to sign Olypique Lyonnais striker, Bafétimbi Gomis, confirming that Joe Kinnear and Newcastle United have finally got sick of all the complications and have fianlly walked away from the proposed deal.

Here’s what Aulas said to Olympique Lyonnais’ official website:

“Of course, the departure of Licha (striker / winger Lisandro López, recently sold by Lyon) poses a new problem. I look forward to trying to get everyone around the table to discuss,” said Aulas to Olympique Lyonais’ official website.

Getting to the most important bit, he then dropped the latest bombshell that there were currently no longer any offers on the table for Gomis any more, confirming, albeit in a roundabout fashion, that Newcastle United had actually pulled out of the deal:

“There are no proposals for Bafé. One can imagine, with the departure of Licha, we could recruit a striker or a player who plays on the right side. But, I repeat, we rest the question. I am ready to move into discussions with Bafe (over a contract extension).

“It is necessary to be humble, me firstly, Bafe needs to play. I think it would be a mistake to stay camped on our positions. We should work with his agent to find something that suits him in order to keep Olympique Lyonnais in good relations.”

There has obviously been alot of manoeuvring from various parties involved in this convoluted non-deal, and Aulas has pointed the finger of blame several times at Gomis’s agents demanding too much in commission. As you can see, Aulas also mentioned the departure of another Lyon forward. However, personally, having followed the story from the French side, I can’t help feeling that something might have changed with Aulas the night Lyon beat the Swiss Grasshoppers and his side qualified for the Champions League playoffs and he gave this interview.

Meanwhile, Newcastle United haven’t had anything to say on the matter at the time of writing.

20 Responses

After Lopez went, we had no leverage. Seems like, as I suspected, NUFC got used here-messed about and kept in reserve lest the Lopez deal not materialize. Well at least they’ve pulled out now. (Of course, something changed here too, when we signed that guy who likes Playstation.)

Doesn’t he only have a year to run on his contract? Ashley likes to play those games and I bet he will be back in in January if not before. If we have a bad start, I think there may be a deadline day deal. I suppose it all depends on how badly Uncle Joe wants Pardew’s job, and whether he feels that Pardew is so bad that he will still fail even with Gomis.

It is a bit of a conundrum for Kinnear because the more he helps Pardew, the further he is away from the job that he has said he really wants.

Of course, Worky and Joe Hawkins especially, think it is only a matter of time for Pardew to f@ck himself and only hope he doesn’t put us in such a tailspin that we can’t recover.

So ! Guess we are not as hot when it comes to negotiating after all, either that or when clubs are talking in the tens of millions in transfer fees, Ashley is nickel and dimeing it.
I get the feeling Ashley has a problem with paying Gomis agent, a personal thing.
So now we are into category “B” eh ?
Never really considered Bent IMO, just used him as leverage for Gomis, but managed to screw up the deal, nothing to do with joe, like I said he’s just the delivery boy, with Ashley the last word.

Was watching the Recent Celtic game , where they introduced their new striker, who signed from a Portuguese side “Baldy” looked ok, a young guy around twenty, who was associated with us a few months back, knowing Celtics financial position, no doubt for a bargain fee.
Their scouts seem to be able to locate these youngsters who use the club as a shop window to gain exposure, then like Wanyama they sell them for big bucks.
Must make Ashley a bit jealous.
And while we are on the subject, can someone pleas tell Pardew to stop touting Cabaye every five minutes, it’s not as if there are clubs clamouring for his signature, in fact I don’t believe there has been a single bid placed.
But Pardew has everyone from Man. U. to some of the biggest sides in Europe after him.
Look for twenty five or even twenty million quid I would sell him, but FFS no one is going to put in that kind of bid, so stop touting the guy and blaming it on Blanc.
Rather than sign a striker we dont want, why not wait until Christmas, by that time we should have a good handle on who to go for and give Gouffran a shot at the second striker role, in the meantime bring in a winger, Hoilett anyone ? would no doubt favor a return to the PL.
We should have never let Ferguson go on loan, as he was our only real winger and could also have filled in as a LB.
Apparently Dumett is now our top youngster coming through and it has been suggested he may challenge Santon for the LB position, I find that hard to believe and would have to see proof.
Sammy is also staying with the side, guess there’s only two Ameobi’s this season as I can’t see Shola going without bringing in another striker.
Of course all of the above is academic, if we are to have Pardew not only managing the side but also coaching as he claims he will be doing.
I suggest he start with re-introducing a passing/possession game and try to keep the ball on the ground and of course he has taken immediate credit for our first goal from a corner kick during the time he has been here it seems like, what about all of those that turned brown, will he also take responsibility for them ?
Nah doubt it !

Gs, It’s not a case of me wanting him to fail, I just do not rate him as a manager, And i felt the same way about him, Long before he came to Newcastle.
If he fails, We fail!, But i personally think it is inevitable.
I think he has had a good run, And has managed to overstay his welcome by 18 months.
I think Ashley should have replaced him, Even after he finished fifth, Because it was the best he was ever going to achieve.
For a manager like Pardew, He could never have followed it up, Last Season was always on the cards.
Ashley could have backed him, And then he might have got by on the feel good factor, For another year.

Where does he go from here though, After what happened last term?
Ashley has made his squad even weaker than it was before, There are people i know, Who think we will have a good Season, I tell them they are mad, But each to their own.
I cannot see how you can turn things around, When you still have the same problems, And now he doesn’t have Europe as an excuse.

Some people don’t put a lot of emphasis on the Man City game, But it could be huge for him.
Most people have written the game off, And rightly so, Because it is a difficult place to go, Even without all this hanging over his head.
If they come away with a narrow defeat, But they give their all, That might galvanize him a bit.
If we go there and get humiliated, And get beat 5 or 6 nil, Then i don’t think he will recover, And it could well hasten his departure, Because he seems to be a fair weather manager.
He’s okay when he’s winning a few games, But like at his other clubs, When his teams start to lose matches, He doesn’t seem to be able to stop the rot.

Pardew is desperate for strikers, But there is a distinct lack of creativity through the side, To create chances for them.
So at the end of the day, He can ask for as many as he likes, They are not going to score many, If the rest of the team, Cannot get the ball to them.

Joe Hawkins @5: I wasn’t criticizing you. I think you are probably right and I know you want what is best for the team – you don’t rate Pardew so the sooner he is gone the better it is. The bookies have him favourite for the sack.

I want him gone because we play terrible football under him. We never try to finish teams off which in my opinion is a big mistake. Yes, results are important but the odd 4-5-6 nil thrashing lifts the spirits.

I think we probably have enough creativity in the squad but Pards, Carver and Stone basically coach any spark of genius out of players at the earliest opportunity. Anita was the playmaker at Ajax, Cabaye pulled the strings for Lille and France, Jonas has been coached to have one foot in each half of the pitch constantly, Sissoko after his first few games has been told to stop charging forward with the ball and taking on defenders, Marveaux has basically been told he’s not playing due to not listening and trying to make things happen – we are only allowed one per game and thats HBA (normally stuck on the wing) and even he has been told he has to try harder and constantly track back so he’s knackered when he gets the ball…..

The Czech Republic international, who was voted Championship player of the year while on loan at Watford last season, completes his move today after passing a medical..

The 21-year-old now links up with his country for Wednesday’s friendly with Hungary in Budapest and will return to train with his new team-mates for the first time ahead of Saturday’s Premier League opener against Southampton.

He is in The Chronicle this morning talking about Joe Kinnear having an important week in the transfer market.
He is then talking about his team choices for the City game.
He is talking about the injury to Jonas, As though Jonas is a first choice player.
Jonas should be nowhere near the first team IMO, And doesn’t merit a starting birth.
Most fans agree with this, So why is Pardew hell bent on staring him, Because he brings very little to the side?

What is wrong with Sylvain Marveaux?, Surely he is a much better attacking, And experienced option, Than Sami Amoebi FFS!
It is talk like this, That reinforces my view on Pardew, We are not going to win games, With this man’s mentality.
This Football is not being given the best chance to win matches, Because of this negative Charlatan!

Worky, This is why i wouldn’t trust Pardew as far as i could throw him.
If there was a war tomorrow, I would hate to be in the trenches with him.
He’s supposed to be the manager of this Football Club, But rather than reassuring the fans, He does the exact opposite.
The stuff he comes out with does in no way, Fills me with any kind of confidence in his ability.

He is a classic Self Preservation Merchant, Who will not take any responsibility for anything.
He does have the excuses at the ready, If he fails, Looks like he’s looking to use Joe as a scapegoat.
I somehow don’t think Ashley will back him over Joe!

Joe, I’m not usually one for gossip which isn’t well substantiated and I don’t know if it’s true, but they do say that Ashley brought in Kinnear in the first place because Carr and Pardew were squabbling over Pardew blaming Carr’s players for the team’s failure last season.

I have to admit that I’ve been worried about this obsession with only getting strikers in. Given how much of a drubbing we were taking, and how many goals we were letting in, how about shoring up the defence and adding some options in the midfield?

pete @ 17: it’s actually worse than that, but nothing new. Our interest in Remy and Gomis wasn’t even really about a fixation on forwards so much as realizing they’re solid assets available at knockdown rates.